Meditation Mk 5,21-43

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Jesus crossed to the other side, where a crowd of people awaits him. Jair – one of the synagogue officials, comes to Jesus. He falls on his knees and asks Jesus to go with him and heal his dying daughter. Jesus goes with Jair. At some point, a woman who has been suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years, touches the cloak of Jesus and she became healed. In the end, Jesus also comes to Jairus’s home. He heals the girl. See all participants of the events, how they look, how they look, how they move, what they feel. Where you are?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: let myself to be touched by Jesus and let myself to get and accept the freedom he gives me 

1. Please, come lay your hands on her get that she may get well and live. (…) if I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured. Jairus and the suffering woman believe in the healing power of Jesus’ touch, and it leads them to the Son of God. Maybe it’s not just a physical touch. You can also touch someone with a word, look, behavior. You can touch pleasantly, with love, but also cool and biting. Certainly, however, each touch is connected with a direct relationship, with a meeting. What is your touch in dealing with other people in relation to yourself? What do you want to say to others, to yourself by your touch?

2.Touching Jesus meant healing. His touch restored freedom. Will you let Jesus touch you? He wants to give you freedom, where you need her. See, where and what spaces in you need freedom. Notice how much trust Jesus has for you. He wants you to be a completely free man. Free, means that you are fully responsible for your decisions and your life. We do not give freedom to others so easily, even sometimes we do not give the right to a different way of thinking. And only in the freedom true, real love can blossom. Love doesn’t know limits, it allows you to experience the Fullness of Life in God right now. What and how much freedom do you give to others and yourself? What kind of love flows from it? How do you experience the Fullness of Life in God today? How do you find in yourself the deep joy of meeting God? How do you share it with others?

3. Jesus also wants you to meet him in your internal freedom. Not, because you want to get something, to ask for, or because of your of  your fear. But because of your deep internal desire to meet him. Therefore, meet Jesus because of your love and stay in his presence just as you can and feel. 

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar,such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

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Meditation Mk 3,31-35

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: See a house: how it looks from the outside and inside? There is a crowd of people in the house, who listen to Jesus. See how people look, how they sit. Notice Jesus, who is in the midst of them. Someone comes to him and says that his mother and relatives are outside and asking for him. See Mary with those, with whom she came. Where are you ?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for getting to know my identity in God

1. His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him.

What did Mary probably feel while she was waiting outside the building? She is the mother of Jesus, but she doesn’t come in. Why is she doing this? What is she guided by? What is her relationship with her son? What can Mary teach you in this situation? Look at your relationship: with your children, your relations. How do you feel about it? How do you react when your relatives tell you to wait? What is your waiting, being outside? What does this mean to you?

2. Who are my mother and (my) brothers? (For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

How do you fulfill the will of God? What is it and how can you find it? God are creating the world and us all time, he is doing it from his love. So it can be said that his will is that, you would be happy, that you would have the deep, inner joy, that you draw from living in relationship with Him. The way and the type of resources you use to achieve it, depends on you. Find your desires, dreams about your personal and professional life, that you feel are the way out to real life and set them with your talents and limitations (so stand in your humility, in the truth about yourself, as you can). See how and what you can realize and how does it lead you to the fullness of life in God today, here and now? 

3. Jesus shows by his attitude, that if we want to do God’s will, we must leave our family, our relatives. This is not about physical isolation. To leave the family means to know your identity and re-enter the relationship. Maybe you do not have to have the same beliefs, persuasions as your ancestors, maybe you do not need to have a profession like your parents, maybe you do not have to pray in the way like your grandma did? Maybe your path of your development is different because you’re unique, no one else has the same DNA code as you! What is your identity? Who you are? Who are you feeling? Who are you in the eyes of a loving God? Listen to what God wants to say.

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar,such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

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Meditation Mk 2,23-28

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: See the field of grain. See paths, the weather. Jesus together with his disciples  are walking between the grain. They are picking the heads of grain. The Pharisees are outraged at this fact. On Sabbath, you must not mow, thresh and cleanse the cereals. And this is what the disciples of Jesus do according to the Pharisees. Listen to their accusations. See how Jesus reacts to this? What does he say? See if you are there, what are you doing, what do you feel?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that my most important goal is to be with Jesus

 1. And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”

We can assume that neither the disciples nor Jesus had a problem with picking  the heads of grain on the sabbath to not feel hunger. They knew why they were doing it. But the Pharisees have the problem, because they clung to the letter of the law, they were inflexible, locked in their schemes. Maybe even more they focused on others, they were more interested in someone else’s lives (especially the mistakes of others) than theirs. How then could they build their relationship with Jesus without going into it?

Who or what is at the center of your life? How do you build a relationship with Jesus, how do you fight for time to meet him?

2. The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.

St. Ignatius Loyola in The Spiritual Exercises, #23 writes:  As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons.

How does it look in your life? Do you know why you are doing something, buying something or not doing something? How do the things you have recently bought help you be closer to God? How does your religious life influence your relationship with God and other people? Consider the purposefulness of taking or not taking up various matters, duties, eg giving gifts, text messaging, your smiling, being offended, keeping quiet, arguing, going on a pilgrimage or staying at home, taking part in a retreat (why just such?), etc.

See the motivations that guide you in your everyday life.

3. I encourage you to enter the meditative scene. Who are you in it? What are you doing? Who are you talking to? What do you feel? Follow your internal movements (they can be both pleasant and unpleasant) that appear in you. Finally, thank God for what is happening in your heart.

 

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar,such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

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Meditation Mk 1,21-28

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: The city of Capernaum is located at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, about 5 km from the Jordan River. There are: a fishing center, a customs post, a synagogue. On the sabbath, Jesus and a few disciples come to this city and they visited the synagogue. There were a lot of people. Jesus began to teach. One man suddenly cried out to Jesus: what have you to do with us (…)? Have you come to destroy us? Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of this man. All people present in the synagogue were amazed and surprised by this incident. See where you are, how you act, react, what you feel.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that I would become a free man – cf. The Spiritual Exercises No. 23 

1. … he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

The scribes were teaching specialists, they were theologians based on acquired knowledge. Jesus spoke differently in the temple. He based his teaching on a living relationship with his Father, filled with Love. So what was his authority? What else was in his preaching? Take a look at Jesus. What can you see so unusual in him? What enchants you in him? Try to review the concept of authority.

2.All were amazed … The witnesses of Jesus exorcism were surprised by his actions. They came to the synagogue to read the Scriptures to be able to live in harmony with the Law. Perhaps they regarded it as their duty, they did it to not have remorse. Maybe they did it without thinking, not asking questions, not seeking the truth, not seeking God. But it is not enough to come to the synagogue and read the Scripture. It is not enough to go for Holy Mass, pray another litany, a rosary, another learned prayer (though God also works here). For faith, we need our commitment to a living relationship with God, meeting with Him. A live relationship does not mean easy, idyllic acquaintance. It can be stormy, very emotional, but it is one in which both sides fight for each other and want to get to know each other as fully as possible. How does your relationship with Jesus look like? What is the result of your fulfilling religious practices? What are your encounters with Jesus? What do you feel during these meetings? What is Jesus amazing about you?

3. In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, in other words – he may be addicted to things, drugs, relationships, patterns of thinking, action, fears that ruled his life. What areas in you are enslaved? What fears do not allow you to be a free man? Why? What breaks you down internally? How does it affect your daily life, your relationships with others, your thinking? Tell Jesus about it, ask him for help. See how your everyday life would look like, if you were a more free man. How would you feel then? (cf. The Spiritual Exercises No.140 – 142)

4. Jesus, in a meditative scene, saves a man: his dignity and his freedom – no evil word falls towards a possessed man. Jesus also comes to you with Love. He works in your life to the extent that you let him. He respect you and your freedom. He loves you as you are here and now, today. Look at Jesus and allow yourself some form of intimacy with Jesus. Maybe Jesus wants to do something else…

 

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

 

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar,such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

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Meditation J 1,19-28

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: The Levites and priests come to Bethany across the Jordan. They traveled that way to meet John the Baptist. They did not do it by themselves, but they were sent by Jews. Therefore, this meeting was not supposed to be social, nor did it come from the good heart of the arrivals. Their goal was to get the answer to the question: who is John the Baptist. Listen to the conversation, look at the faces of the participants of this event. Are you there?

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for the desire and ability to be in now 

1. Who are you? ; What do you have to say for yourself?

John Baptist heard both questions and probably answered. He knew his identity and his mission: he baptized with water people to prepare them for meeting Jesus.
Today both questions are addressed to you: who you are and what you have to say for yourself. What will you answer? What is your identity and what is your mission, your vocation, that you do in the place you live now? What is your openness to discovering your mission each day? Mission means your answer to the question: what are you doing to get closer to your goal? So let’s ask one more question: what is your main goal and the smaller goals that lead to the main goal?

2. (…) but there is one among you whom you do not recognize (…)

The Jews wait for the coming of the Messiah, and John says that he is already here, only those, who wait for him, cannot recognize Messiah. Why? What does disturb them in this?
Do you recognize Jesus and his miracles, that he does for you every day? Are you still waiting for fireworks? Maybe the miracle, that Jesus does for you, is that you can get up the next day, smile to your loved ones, drink your favorite coffee, tea and just normally live this day with your difficulty, weakness, illness? To live does not mean to wait for a miracle, but to be in the present, because the present is a miracle, that you wouldn’t notice if you still wait and not be. Look at your life in this context, your last days: how do you recognize the action of Jesus at that time, what miracles did he do for you?

3. Jesus is standing next to you and asking: Who am I to you? What will you tell him?  

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar,such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)

 

 

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